1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit processing, and more particularly, to electrostatic clamping devices for coupling a workpiece and methods for reducing workpiece contamination in the coupling.
2. Related Art
Electrostatic chucks are widely used to support/hold wafers for processing, e,g., ion implantation, in integrated circuit (IC) processing systems. An electrostatic chuck includes a chuck body having at least one electrode within the chuck body. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes, an electrical field is created adjacent to a surface of the chuck body such that a wafer can be clamped to the surface to be retained. The surface may include embossment portions, referred to as mesas, to support the wafer and to reduce physical contact with the wafer.
In the clamping, the backside of the clamped wafer has a physical contact with the chuck surface, e.g., mesas, of the electrostatic chuck. This contact may result an particles that contaminate the wafer and may contaminate the processing chambers of the wafer, which are generally referred to as backside particles. The contaminating backside particles usually damage devices manufactured from the wafer and cause yield losses.